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Splitting a Soul~Chapter 28
Jack Frost The drive to Long Island was pretty uneventful. It was like the gods had thought we had done enough for one trip and just cleared the roads of all monsters. My car was running beautifully and I couldn’t wait to see this camp I had heard so much about. Then maybe I could give that wine dude a punch in the face or freeze his soda while he was drinking it. I thought about all the things I could do to that god, but deep down I felt like I should thank him. Even if he had put us into the toughest fight of our lives, it got us to work as a team and we were kind of awesome. However thinking about that got me to wonder why a satyr had never picked me up. I mean I found out about a week ago that Ash had been going to Camp Half-Blood, or at least known about it for a number of years. I probably found out around the same time so why did he get to visit Olympus during the Winter Solstice and I stayed home to watch TV with my dad. “This is the amazing super cool training camp?” I asked. Kimi laughed, but Ash just kind of shrugged me off. “It is a strawberry field in the middle of nowhere.” “Wait until you get a closer look,” Kimi suggested and the three of us moved forward. As we passed some old pine tree, I felt some kind of force hold me back for a second, like I had walked through a sheet of clear paper. A moment later I found myself standing next to a sleeping dragon that opened an eye as if to look me over, and then promptly went back to sleep. “Not much of a guard dog,” I said, looking at the dragon. “Don’t worry about him, he probably just doesn’t see you as a threat,” Kimi tried to encourage, but it didn’t come out the way she had been hoping. “I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment or an insult,” I joked, but Kimi looked a little hurt. How could one girl be so sensitive? “No, it was a joke. Trust me, I don’t think I want to be on any dragon’s threat list.” “Come on, we should introduce you to Chiron,” Ash said as he ushered me down the hill. Kimi was right about waiting until we got closer, as the camp looked totally cool. There was a group of kids shooting arrows, another was sword fighting, and one group was placing landmines in the ground around a large red building. I decided not to go near there if I could help it. “The Big House is right over there; I’m sure you can make it the rest of the way. I have a few things I need to take care of myself,” Ash said, pointing me toward a large blue house. Before I could even reply, the guy just kind of walked off; no goodbye or anything. “He’s probably under a lot of stress,” Kimi said, almost like she was reading my mind. I looked over to her and she had a sad expression on her face. I wondered if the two were a thing or had a thing or maybe they didn’t know they had a thing. Either way, there was something going on between them. “Come on, Chiron should be by the Big House.” The Big House wasn’t really that big and it barely qualified as a house. The thing looked like it was about to fall over with all the wood rot going on and the paint was chipping all over the place. At least that was what it looked like up close. Out in front was a centaur pacing around the house deep in thought while a guy in a bright blue Hawaiian shirt was playing checkers with a satyr. I took a quick glance at the board and saw that the small goat-kid could have triple jumped the guy and gotten a king; he even had his hand on the piece, but instead he moved another piece and allowed the guy to jump him. “What are you doing Goat-boy?” I yelled as I walked over. “Excuse me?” the satyr asked, a bit shakily as I approached him. “Put that piece back,” I yelled at the guy in the bright shirt and he raised an eyebrow at me. I just grabbed the piece from his side of the table and put everything back the way it was. I then pointed to the original piece. “Ok now watch this. If you had done your original plan, you could jump these three pieces and gotten a king. Plus if you play how I do, you could then continue the jump and use your king to move backward and jump these three pieces and that is game.” “Who asked you?!” the guy said as he leaned forward in his seat, his eyes obviously angry. “He was doing just fine without your help.” “He was losing on purpose,” I pointed out. “He even had his hand on that checker.” “Like I said, he was doing just fine without your help,” the guy pointed out. “Hey I remember you! You’re that wine dude that made me go crazy!” I shouted as I got a better look at him. The last time I saw him was through a rainbow, but the rainbow at least helped dull the bright colors of his shirt if that was even possible. “You almost got us killed!” “Almost?” Dionysus said thoughtfully. “I guess I wasn’t trying hard enough…and why does everyone call me the Wine-dude?” “Oh lets go talk to Chiron,” Kimi said urgently as she pushed me away from the drunkard playing checkers. “What was that for?” I asked her once we were out of earshot. “He was about to turn you into a dolphin,” Kimi commented. “I don’t want to see that happen to another camper.” “Another camper?” I asked. “Don’t ask and just keep walking,” Kimi said and we stopped in front of Chiron. He seemed to finally take notice of us and he wiped a worried expression off his face. “It is a pleasure to have everyone back safely, or so I assume,” Chiron said. “Where are Ashton and Aisling?” “Aisling went back to her house and Ash said he had something to take care of,” Kimi explained and Chiron just gave a nod. “And she is cured I assume?” Chiron questioned, seemingly grasping at any bit of good news. “Yes, thanks to Ash that is. He pulled her into the gate when she had almost completely turned,” Kimi explained. “It was pretty cool,” I added. “Then they both came out a moment later.” “Together? Chiron asked. “Well, Aisling came out and then the doors closed, but Ash came out a minute later and everything was fine,” I told Chiron. He scratched his beard but gave us a smile. “Good to hear. Things have not been going so well here I am afraid. The forces of nature seem almost restless and they are starting to affect everyone. Our nature spirits in the woods are starting to fight with the campers because of the Forest Elemental’s influence, sandstorms are ravaging Las Vegas, and there have been volcanic eruptions all over the east coast as close as Albany,” Chiron said sadly. “We were there,” Jack pointed out. “Lava was flowing down a major road, but we cooled off that hot head for awhile.” “I hope for all our sakes that you are right,” Chiron admitted before he noticed our somewhat saddened looks. “But all this can wait until later. Go, rest after your long journey.” We did as Chiron suggested and Kimi directed me to the Khione cabin. The thing looked like a giant igloo and I wondered how the thing wasn’t completely melted. Even if it was late Fall, the temperature was well above freezing. “The ice and snow has been enchanted by the Hecate demigods so that it won't melt year round,” Kimi explained, as if reading my thoughts. “Bumble is the cabin leader so I would check in with him.” “What kind of name is Bumble?” I asked. “His real name is Yukon, but he looks like an abominable snowman so everyone calls him Bumble for short,” Kimi said. On that note I got excited about meeting him and waved goodbye to Kimi. She walked off back to the Big House. I got to the door and the entire thing was made from solid ice, including the doorknob. “Hello?” I yelled as I entered the cabin. Out of nowhere came a guy that must have been over six feet tall and dressed in a white fur coat and boots. He really did look like an abominable snowman and I wondered if there was some kind of Greek monster equivalent of the things. “Welcome to the Khione cabin!” Bumble half yelled as he wrapped me in a big hug that almost crushed the air out of my lungs. “Um, thanks,” I gasped, trying to pull air into my lungs. “Is there anything I can do for you? We have a hot chocolate machine in the corner over there next to the snow-cone maker. Ice cream is behind that block of ice and cold sodas are in the cooler in the corner,” he explained, giving me the tour. The cooler looked hopelessly out of place when the walls themselves were made of ice and snow. “So like I said, anything I can do?” “You could let me go,” I suggested and he looked a bit puzzled before letting out a large laugh that must have come from the pit of his stomach before retracting his arms. “Sorry about that; I absolutely love meeting new people. I think you’ll fit in great around here,” he said. “If you plan on staying that is; not everyone does as most children of Khione can live in the mortal world no problem. So are you planning on staying?” I considered his question and I honestly hadn’t thought about it. I wondered if I could just drop everything at home and move here, take classes with other demigods if they even had classes here. But that would also mean leaving my dad alone at home and I wondered if he would be ok with that. “I’ll think about it,” I told him and Bumble just gave me a smile. “So until then, which bunk is mine?”